title: Ag nanotubes and Ag/AgCl electrodes in nanoporous membranes.
abstract: Miniaturization of the entire experimental setup is a key requirement for widespread application of nanodevices. For nanopore biosensing, integrating electrodes onto the nanopore membrane and controlling the pore length is important for reducing the complexity and improving the sensitivity of the system. Here we present a method to achieve these goals, which relies on electroless plating to produce Ag nanotubes in track-etched polymer nanopore templates. By plating from one side only, we create a conductive nanotube that does not span the full length of the pore, and thus can act as a nanoelectrode located inside the nanopore. To give optimal electrochemical behavior for sensing, we coat the Ag nanotube with a layer of AgCl. We characterize the behavior of this nanoelectrode by measuring its current-voltage response and find that, in most cases, the response is asymmetric. The plated nanopores have initial diameters between 100 and 300 nm, thus a range suitable for detection of viruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davenport
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Healy
authors.forename: Zuzanna S
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Siwy
mesh_terms: D000268:Adhesiveness; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004566:Electrodes; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates / Q000737:chemistry; D011189:Potassium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D018030:Silver Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D012835:Silver Nitrate / Q000737:chemistry; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D013499:Surface Properties; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D018030:Silver Compounds; D012834:Silver; D011189:Potassium Chloride; D006046:Gold; D012835:Silver Nitrate; C037548:silver chloride; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid